This one move will save $20,000 on our wedding

By Genna Contino

Plus: Where we're cutting back to free up space in our wedding budget for the things we really want on our big day

Instead of letting our expensive tastes bankrupt our family, my fiancé and I are planning the wedding of our dreams on a budget.

I got engaged in August, and now I find myself constantly thinking and talking about wedding planning. I'm not even getting married until 2028, but my Pinterest board is already overflowing with inspo photos of dresses and decor.

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I knew planning a wedding would be expensive, but I had no idea how crazy it could actually get. Just take a scroll through the BigBudgetBrides subreddit (my latest guilty pleasure), where "$1m+ budget" is a flair option for posts. I fell in love with a wedding dress on TikTok, but my heart broke when I saw its $14,000 price tag. And when I emailed a wedding photographer whose Instagram feed seemed perfectly curated to how I envision our special day, he quoted me $30,000 for a starter package.

My parents will be helping us pay for the wedding, and I can tell you that they will absolutely not be cool with paying five figures apiece for the dress and the photographer. Plus, I recognize how privileged we are to have financial help - and I always try to cut costs wherever I can. So instead of letting my expensive tastes bankrupt my family, I'm planning the wedding of my dreams on a budget. Let's look at how.

This one move - literally - can cut thousands of dollars off the cost of your wedding

The average wedding costs $34,200 this year, according to a survey by the Knot of nearly 11,000 people who recently married. And the wedding-planning website notes that the venue itself consistently eats up the biggest piece of the budget (29% of the cost), with catering, cake and drinks a close second (a combined 24% of the cost). So the place where you can save the most money is literally the place where you'll tie the knot.

One option we floated, because I was baptized Catholic, was the iconic St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. The ceremony fee is reportedly $7,500 - significantly lower than other venues in the city, which can range from about $9,000 to more than $42,000. But that $7,500 doesn't factor in reception costs, such as food and drinks, or renting tables and chairs. We also want my fiancé's dad, who is a Baptist pastor, to officiate our ceremony, which would probably not fly with the Catholic Church. And prices for other area venues we considered that included space for the reception were steep. Couples spend $27,500 on average for New York wedding venues, according to the Knot survey.

So we started looking at venues in South Carolina, which is where we met, where I'm from and where my parents still live. It's more affordable than New York, and it's meaningful to us. The venue we're eyeing, a historic home in my hometown of Rock Hill, fits up to 500 guests (though we plan to have no more than 150), with prices starting at $7,500 - so simply shifting our focus to the South is saving us $20,000 over the average venue in New York.

There are also ways to save on the venue that don't involve getting married in another state.

-- Trimming your guest list or supplying your own alcohol can lower the cost substantially.

-- Some venues also offer discounts for winter weddings or ceremony dates that fall on a Friday or Sunday, since most couples want a Saturday wedding in a warm-weather month.

-- You could also consider the backyard of a friend or family member. Public parks and community centers also are often cheaper than big event spaces.

6 other ways to cut the cost of a wedding

We're still nailing down our wedding budget, but there are a few other places where we're planning to save money on our big day in order to create room in the budget for the things we really want to splurge on.

🍴 The food: I've been underwhelmed by the food at the few fancy weddings I've attended. By the time the servers get all the plates out of the catering kitchen, the steak or fish is often cold. So we plan to cater a barbecue buffet from Palmetto Pig, one of our favorite restaurants, instead. The comfort food will be tasty, simple and less expensive than individual plates. Palmetto Pig charges $18 plus tax per person for catering, a huge discount compared with the $80 per person the Knot estimates the average couple spends on catering. Plus, the money saved on food can be redirected toward an open bar - which we all know is the real reason people go to weddings.

A $1,495 wedding dress I tried on at Anthropologie. I didn't get it, but at least the price was better than the $14,000 dress I saw on TikTok!

👗 The dress: The dress is the one thing that my family and I have set a budget for so far, based on my mom's $1,500 wedding gown, which she bought at Kleinfeld's (of "Say Yes to the Dress" fame) and which would cost about $3,100 today, adjusted for inflation. So I'm only trying on dresses below that price point - and I've already found that there are plenty of options. We were surprised to find gorgeous gowns under $2,000 at Anthropologie, for example.

-- Bonus tip: There's always the option to buy a dress secondhand. One of my friends who got married last year wore a beautiful dress she bought at a Goodwill bridal pop-up sale.

📋 The planner: Instead of hiring a wedding planner, I'll be leaning on my mom to help sort out a lot of the details. Since she lives in South Carolina, her proximity to local vendors will be a huge help. I'll also be checking out Folia, a planning site I heard about that helps you track just about everything including budget, invoices, guest list and seating chart.

I'm also skipping these traditional wedding costs:

-- Makeup artist. I can do my makeup myself, which cuts about $150 off our total bill. 💄

-- Programs. The ceremony and reception should be pretty straightforward, so there's no need to spend around $238 for printing 150 sheets of cardstock that everyone will still be awkwardly holding on to during the cocktail hour. 📜

-- Party favors. Our guests are already getting a free meal, alcohol, music and dancing, so we'll be skipping the favors, which can add up to $300 to $1,500 for the number of guests we're inviting. I think they'll be OK without a monogrammed koozie or candle that will go straight into their junk drawers anyway. 🎊

Money-saving tips for wedding guests

Just going to a wedding can get really expensive really fast, with the average guest spending $610 to attend a single wedding, according to the Knot - although flying to the nuptials can bring that up to $1,680 on average. We've got some tips for celebrating your loved ones without going broke.

-- Wedding-guest spending traps to avoid - plus, how to decline a wedding invite without sounding like a jerk.

-- Here's exactly how much money to give as a wedding gift - whether it's for a close friend, relative or distant acquaintance

Reader tips

We already know that almost everything is more expensive than it was five years ago, but I want to know about any new habits you've formed or small things you've changed in your day-to-day routine to get by. Send your favorite money tip for saving on anything from gas and groceries to plane tickets to dontshortyourself@marketwatch.com, and we'll share it in next week's newsletter.

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About Genna

I'm Genna Contino, an award-winning journalist on MarketWatch's personal-finance team. I'm 28 years old, originally from South Carolina, and currently splitting the rent on an overpriced apartment in New York City with my fiancé. When I'm not writing about my hack for saving hundreds of dollars on airfare, or the four must-have money conversations before moving in with your partner, you can find me reading a celebrity memoir, overanalyzing reality TV, junk journaling, borrowing DVDs from the library or getting thoroughly humbled in an adult ballet class after a 10-year hiatus.

-Genna Contino

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